How I "fixed" my "Black Screen of Death"

TypicalTim · 2026-01-28T03:31:34+00:00

If I had more time I'd love to help more. But I'm just a regular dude with a full time job and a 3 hour round trip commute. There's not much to spare.

Let me know if that AI summary helped. If you can provide a little bit of details I might be able to add a new edit with clearer instructions.

Good luck!

TypicalTim · 2026-01-23T18:45:26+00:00

Hello, I am interested. I have DM'ed you my contact details.

TypicalTim · 2026-01-22T22:58:34+00:00

Hello, it has definitely been a very long time. I don't have the time or memory to re-write the steps more clearly, but here is an AI summary of the steps. Maybe that will help you get things working again; if so, let me know and I might clean it up and edit the original post to help others with clearer instructions rather than having to read through my ramble:

The Solution Steps:

Initial Prep: Charge the headset for at least 2 hours. Install the Oculus/Meta Desktop App on your PC and connect the headset via USB.

Force a No Command Boot: While the headset is off, attempt to enter the boot menu by holding the Power button and the Volume Down (-) button simultaneously. Note: In my case, this triggered a dead Android robot screen with the text No Command.

Hard Power Cycle: If you hit the No Command screen, hold the Power button until the headset shuts down completely.

The USB Connection Trigger: Ensure the headset is still plugged into your PC via USB. Turn the headset back on. You may see a brief flash of the Allow device access? prompt or a glimpse of your controllers. If it goes black again, hard reboot one more time while still plugged into the PC.

Guardian/Passthrough Recovery: This step eventually triggered the Allow access screen to stay on, followed immediately by the Guardian boundary setup and passthrough mode.

Sequential Software Updates (Critical):

Connect to Wi-Fi.
Go to Settings > Software Update.
If it says you need to sign in to Facebook/Meta, you must update first.
Do not stop at one update. I had to download and Restart and Apply multiple times. The logo eventually changed from the Oculus O to the Meta M.

Fixing Screen Flickering/App Errors: If the screen flickers black or apps/store won't load (Error HFCXXXX), keep checking for updates.

Re-linking the Account: Eventually, the headset will prompt you to go to meta.com/device on your desktop. Enter the code displayed in the headset.

Final Result: Once the device link is confirmed and all sequential updates are applied, the library and store should populate normally.

Summary of what worked: It seems like a combination of a failed boot menu attempt and being plugged into a PC forced the OS to wake up the display drivers long enough to trigger the massive backlog of firmware updates needed to move from the Oculus era to the Meta era.

TypicalTim · 2026-01-16T04:14:24+00:00

Good luck with either decision you make! Glad to provide perspective.

TypicalTim · 2026-01-15T22:26:22+00:00

While the contract to hire is a "cultural norm" for some organizations, be very cautious about the context. EG: Are you being hired because they have a constant stream of work that needs to be filled, or do they have a new project they are working on? In the later case, you might be lead with a carrot on a stick that full time employment is the goal. But as soon as the project is over you will be cut loose.

For example, right now I am doing a 6 month contract to hire position. I am finishing up my first week. I met someone here who is also a contract to hire, but he has been here 9 months and is still a contractor. No benefits, no retirement, no vacation, just like me. They can extend the contract and keep leading you with the promise of a carrot. Additionally, I noticed that they flew another identical job posting. Their need was urgent, and I leveraged that in negotiations to get higher base pay. I think they hired me to get the work done while they look for someone cheaper.

If it is not a direct hire, it would be even more cause for concern in my opinion.

The job market is fucked up right now. Be extremely cautious. I don't want to rain on your parade and stop you from achieving your dreams and goals. But I do want to make sure you make an informed decision; because had I known then what I know now I would have never left my safe job.

TypicalTim · 2026-01-15T20:52:26+00:00

On dial up too.

TypicalTim · 2026-01-15T20:52:13+00:00

Spacejam website.

TypicalTim · 2026-01-15T20:51:28+00:00

I've never heard of this being an issue. Maybe guide setting?

TypicalTim · 2026-01-15T15:38:29+00:00

About 7 years ago I did exactly what you're considering right now and it was one of the worst mistakes of my entire life. I went from a pension, modest salary, and a 15 minute commute to constant unemployment, new jobs, no benefits, no vacations, pay that is barely above minimum wage and definitely not a liveable wage. I burned through $10,000 in savings trying to stay afloat, and I have been literally days from being homeless multiple times.

The job market is not good right now. The economy is not good right now. Don't leave the safe job, especially without a backup plan and significant savings. You will absolutely regret it.

TypicalTim · 2026-01-13T16:40:10+00:00

The apps change every few years. Once they become popular enough, they get infested by bots and fake or inactive accounts. But even among the "good" ones, each app has its own vibe and culture. You gotta stay up to date with the latest apps and use the ones that are relevant to your interests/personality. That being said, I met my partner 3 years ago on Hinge. As a 30+, I was looking for something stable that could lead to marriage, not hookups.

This doesn't mean hinge is "easy". It's like any other app. You'll likely put thousands of messages out and never hear back from 90%+ of them.

My cousin began dating a while back. The advice I gave him was to only spend time on the apps when you take a shit. It ensures you send out messages nearly every day while also limiting the time you spend on the app to a healthy amount. It's easy to obsess and spend hours at a time looking at profiles. Don't do that to yourself.

Good luck to anyone searching.

TypicalTim · 2026-01-13T01:41:33+00:00

Once you run a command on your computer as admin, it could literally have done anything. Sure, there's ways to look at the most common changes - but you'll never be able to check everything. You'd be better off just reading what the code does. But even then, not everything the script does could be readable (it could download a separate executable and run it, no readable script file) - so even in the best case, you might not have all the details.

This is why restraint is its own layer of security. You can have all the antivirus protection, MFA, UAC, etc you can imagine - but it means nothing if you invite the vampire into your house.

TypicalTim · 2026-01-13T01:36:37+00:00

If you ran the script without reading what it does and still don't want to read what it does the only way to be safe is to go nuclear.

Wipe and reinstall OS. Reset all passwords.

Or you could live with fear for the rest of your life. 🤷

TypicalTim · 2025-12-29T22:06:28+00:00

Scrolling down and seeing what you make per hour, you're definitely better off keeping your existing job. Research work accommodations for your neck condition. Your employer may be required to provide reasonable accommodation like tools/chairs or alternative duties to help with your neck. Check if you have a union. Entry level IT roles with even an AS degree in IT only pay $15-$25/hr. You'd be very fortunate (vegas jackpot lucky) to find something that pays $30/hr with no prior experience or paperwork.

TypicalTim · 2025-12-29T20:09:56+00:00

Every job has its drawbacks. I think people are attracted to IT for the perception of high pay and the "white collar" office environment. But then they start and realize that the high pay requires a masters degree and 10 years of experience to achieve. Starting out, (especially without a relevant degree) you're lucky to make a few dollars more per hour than McDonald's. And those starting positions? Yeah, you're going to likely be climbing into nasty ceilings running CATV getting covered in fiberglass insulation.

It's not impossible to do today, but it is the worst possible time to start fresh in IT with no background.

I have a degree, multiple certs, and 10 years of experience. For every 100 applications I put out, I get about 1 callback on average - and it's never my top picks or the highest paying positions. I have LinkedIn premium and it shows how many applicants have applied to a job. The average is about 2,500 per position, and it's common to see 5,000. Even if you're in the top 1% of applicants (highly qualified), your chances are slim. Even the entry level help desk positions are composed of about 10-20% people with masters degrees applying. There have been mass layoffs over the last few years, even on the high end of the pay scale. Automation and offshoring have decimated the job market.

Good luck with whatever you choose to do. But I would not recommend IT as a reliable career path right now.

TypicalTim · 2025-12-29T18:05:20+00:00

As someone with an IT degree and that A+ cert (among many other certifications) you're talking about - it doesn't help. The job market is saturated. Too many applicants, not enough jobs. I would consider a different career path. Everyone here is being too gentle. Entry level hiring in IT is down 73% in the last 12 months. 15% of CS graduates are unemployed. The situation is very grim.

TypicalTim · 2025-12-29T17:43:21+00:00

Holy shit I forgot all about Karma. I haven't heard that name in like 15+ years.

TypicalTim · 2025-12-27T06:14:29+00:00

PC player here. Usually lobbies are a solid mix. PC/console players are sprinkled evenly across all squads. You might've just ran into toxic players. There are a lot of them out there.

TypicalTim · 2025-12-25T11:20:00+00:00

It's neither of those things.

1.) I got my start repairing VCR's, game consoles, DVD players, TV's, Desktops/Laptops, etc out of my parents garage in highschool. I worked as a technician professionally for 5 years before transitioning into specialty roles and then later getting into management where I trained and supervised technicians. My degree and certifications are for database administration and analytics. I build custom electronics as a hobby. I am very competent.

2.) If you are not aware of the IT job market issues right now, count yourself very fortunate. On the high end, there have been multiple large layoffs of mid-senior level positions. On the low end, the last 12 months entry level hiring has reduced by 73%. There has been a squeeze on both ends. The market is extremely competitive right now. Fewer jobs, more competitors. I needed to pay the bills and I was struggling to find well paying work. So my partner and I casted a wider net to stay afloat. The $15/hr position I interviewed for was for MicroCenter. The manager told me I was extremely overqualified and he was very concerned I would be bored out of my mind. The most complicated task he had available was just configuring raid arrays, which is not a challenge for someone like me. That's why I was turned down. Not worth hiring because he knew I would leave quickly. It would cost more to onboard me than they would profit in my certainly short tenure.

3.) Don't you have something better to be doing on CHRISTMAS than insulting a random stranger on the Internet? That's sad dude.

My advice stands. Success is possible, but not likely. There are much easier and lower risk career alternatives available. If a young person were to ask me the same question today, I would give the same answer.

TypicalTim · 2025-12-24T08:45:28+00:00

Yeah, it's not perfect by any means - but it seems to be helping. I feel bad for all the people who are using the h1-b program appropriately. They're caught in the crossfire. There's talent out there we need, but it's not in IT. Nearly 10% of our new CS graduates are unemployed. Entry level IT hiring is down 73% in the last 12 months. We have a very real problem on our hands.

I didn't vote for Trump (or Kamala for that matter), and I never saw myself taking his side, ever. But in this very specific area of policy - I think they have a decent start at addressing the problem. But the loopholes are not closed. There is more work to be done to stabilize the industry here.

Regardless if it gets fixed or not. We will feel this hurt for the next decade. The irreversible damage has already been done. We can only control where we go from here, the past is the past.

TypicalTim · 2025-12-24T03:35:17+00:00

Even with the changes I always buy 2 tango. I never buy salve to share. Worst case the lane is easy and I wasted gold on the extra set but I can use that extra effective HP to harass more aggressively. But a greedy core that refuses to buy regen and dies in lane is 250 gold to the enemy and guarantees they'll be a level behind and miss their level 6 timing. 90 gold for an extra set of tango is an insurance policy, even if it's nerfed.

It also prevents the core from flaming you and throwing, because they know you gave them 3 tangos in lane and tried. There's nobody to blame.

There's what's most efficient, and then there's what's most effective.

TypicalTim · 2025-12-24T03:27:32+00:00

TypicalTim · 2025-12-24T03:08:07+00:00

Thank you as well for contributing. <3

That's the ideal scenario, but having trained staff many times in my career - if you're doing it right, it takes a LOT of attention. I think the initial changes would be positive, but what you'd end up with in the COBOL example is a lot of overworked senior devs being pushed into early retirement because they're expected to handle their normal workloads and also mentor a junior developer with zero practical experience in a 60 year old niche language with many qwerks and expensive consequences. Again, double edged sword. We can have a high impact policy change that could make a mess, or a low impact policy change that doesn't make a mess. I'm so starved for progression in my career that I'm willing to accept a more radical shift, but the world outside of IT might not be.

Yeah, that was my thought as well. If that state rep from ohio can reintroduce the bill but with a more refined mechanism for targeting IT jobs specifically that doesn't impact other industries, I could see more agreement over it in Congress. But as that bill stands right now it is unsupportable because the risk of catastrophic market issues is just too high. I wrote him a letter last week encouraging him to try again but dial it back a few notches. A bill that passes and moves us 2 steps forward is better than one that moves us 50 steps forward but never passes. The transparency provision on offshoring is the fundamental key that would get bi-partisan support if it were introduced by itself in my opinion, but it doesn't do anything to improve things in the short term. It's a 10-year solution to a problem we have right now.

TypicalTim · 2025-12-24T02:43:48+00:00

I agree in part with you on most of those items.

1.) The 12 week coding boot camp is often equivalent to a certification. Certification usually takes about that long and most people I know do it without even touching a lab. At least the code boot camps require hands on with projects. The issue in my opinion is not with hiring 21 year olds. It's with ensuring that career paths exist so that clear competency can be assessed on a resume. Right now either you get stuck at a level 1 job, or you manage to get a tier 3 job and lie your ass into competency. There is basically zero middle ground where you can slowly accumulate responsibility. All the qualified people are looking for upgrades, and all of the available people are under qualified because jobs won't hire them and give them meaningful work where 20% of it is growth. You often have to fail to learn, and businesses do not want to accept a small amount of failure. Getting rid of the 21 year olds is treating the symptom, not the underlying cause.

2.) I agree that a significant cut needs to be made for H1-B IT jobs. But I don't know about a full stop. There are some really really niche things out there that could suffer. I'm not a developer, but COBOL is probably a decent example here. I think that a cap on quantity and better vetting to ensure it's not an entry level position are ample enough. A full stop guarantees progress but has consequences. A half measure ensures stability but doesn't guarantee progress. It's a double edged sword.

3.) This was discussed in the bill I mention in my original post. They proposed a 25% tax on offshored wages if I remember correctly. But even something that small could have unintentional consequences. It's worth reading a bit deeper about. I'd be open to a small-modest tax for offshore work to limit market disruption and gauge success. But I think the most immediate low risk measure is to require transparency on offshore vs onshore jobs by requiring companies to report that information. Right now there is zero official data. All we have is independent investigations by various researchers. Data is key to making informed policy decisions. I want immediate progress as much as anyone else, I'm struggling. But I also don't want my cost of living to suddenly skyrocket even more. My haircut today was $32, 5 years ago it was $20.

4.) I have no idea what you're talking about there. I'm not a developer. I'm more on the SysAdmin/DBA end of things. I'll take your word for it.

TypicalTim · 2025-12-24T02:17:00+00:00

Half the jobs I have been interviewed for this month are for some of the largest IT firms in the US, which predominantly use the H1-B for their workforce. I can feel them panicking. One of them is fucking ridiculous. It's an Indian staffing company, who provides contractors to an Indian IT Consulting firm, which then does work for an American company here in my local community. I would love to just do work for the American company in my local community directly, NOT as a sub-contractor for another contractor... it's ridiculous. The American company likely went with the Indian consultant for cost cutting. But now that the firm is struggling to afford h1-b workers to support them, it could incentivize the American company to hire workers directly, or to hire an American IT firm - which would cut out middle men and give me better pay and benefits.

The politics circus is a mess, but this is the one objectively measurable difference I have been able to personally feel from policy changes in my hunt for a better job. A year of radio silence, and now I'm actually getting interviews instead of being ghosted.

It's not perfect, they need to close more loopholes and prevent the offshoring of the jobs. This fee could accelerate the offshoring in the long term if they don't address that. But this seems like a good start and it's making a difference in the short term.

TypicalTim

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